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Published: January 6th 2007
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Day 42 - On the 18th we caughts a flight early in the morning from
Adelaide to
Alice Springs, and the heat hit us as soon as we got off the plane. We headed straight away to collect our 'Wicked camper' which was basic but pretty cool and quite nippy, even Shelley had a drive in this one. We had a brief look around Alice Springs and got all the information we needed for the next few days, then started the long 6 hour drive to
Ayers Rock Resort. It took longer than it should (normally 5 hours) as we did the last part in the dark, and as there were lots of kangaroos at the side of the road we had to drive alot slower. We had also been warned that Camels and cattle also walk out in front of cars and this has cause a few nasty accidents as people swerve to avoid them and roll their vehicles.
Day43 - We awoke at 4am to be picked at 4.45am to go on a sunrise camel ride at
Uluru (Ayers Rock). This was fun but a little painful on Shelleys bottom. It was really cool to see Uluru for
the first time, but it was cloudy so the sunrise wasn't as amazing as we know it can be. After the camel ride we had some beer-bread for breakfast and drove to the base of Uluru where we joined a cultural tour with an local Aboriginal and interpreter. Their history and beliefs truly is extremely interesting. After some lunch, we had some lunch we decided to walk the 10km base walk all the way around the edge of the rock. Unfortunately it was far too hot by midday for Shelley so she had to turn back after abour 1km. Phil carried on and completed the walk within a couple of (very hot) hours. That night we camped at the Ayers Rock Resort again.
Day 44 - On the 20th we headed to the
Kata Tjuta (The Olgas) and did the 7.4km 'Valley of the Winds' walk. We started this early, but towards the end of the walk it was very hot again and Shelley was suffering. The Olga's consists of about 36 huge sandstone domes and is a little more interesting to look at than Uluru. Here we saw a very large lizard (1m long) and lots of birdlife,
Uluru and Trees
Photo by Phil Walker. including flocks a bright green birds that flew around very fast. Phil did another short walk here called the
Walpa Olga Gorge Walk. Then we drove through the outback again to
Kings Canyon Resort. We saw a dingo when we first arrived. It rained this night and was cooler so made it a little more bearable to sleep in.
Day 45 - On the 21st we did a 6km walk around the rim of
Kings Canyon. This was an amazing place to see and we both really enjoyed it. We made the walk a little longer by going to a couple of viewpoints. and then walking down into the canyon to a place a called
The Garden of Eden. This was a little oasis with a waterhole, lots of trees and wildlife, and was much greener compared to the dry brown sandstones and desert above and around us. We saw many different type of Lizards along this walk, but none as big as what we had saw the day before. After this we headed back to Alice Springs to camp. This took about 4 hours. That evening, as it was Phil's birthday the following day, we went for a
meal and Phil ate a 'Game Medley' consisting of Camel, Crocodile, Emu and Kangaroo! A little diiferent to the mixed grill we have at home!
Day46 - On Phil's birthday we headed along a road following the
McDonald Ranges. Our first stop was at a really picturesque place called
Ellery Creek Big Hole. There was nobody else here for most of our time there, just lots of wildlife. Phil enjoyed a swim and Shelley had a paddle. Whilst we were there a Dingo ran off with our suntan lotion, but Phil managed to track him down and recover it! Just as Phil was about to jump in the waterhole another couple turned up, stripped off naked and jumped in before him - a little uncomfortable! After this we headed to another waterhole at the
Glen Helen Resort, this was again very nice but not as nice as Ellery Creek. On our way back we visited
Ormiston Gorge, another beautiful placeand we would have loved to have done a walk up through the gorge but didn't have time. Our last stop was the
Ochre Pits, where the Aboriginis collect colours for body and rock paintings. All the rocks were different
A waterhole at Uluru.
Photo by Phil Walker. colours and when rubbing your hand over a fine powder of colour came off.
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Lynda [vegetarian]
non-member comment
Phills mixed grill
Todays pics are brilliant, keep them coming, Shelley hope your bums better [and I dont mean Phill!] Phill - please dont eat all the wild life leave some for me to see! Got your postcard this morning from Ayres Rock, great to hear from you. Stay safe!